An open letter signed by four key stakeholders in the Dutch gaming space has mounted a damning critique of the country’s gambling tax framework.

The letter was penned by the Netherlands Online Gambling Association (VNLOK) and is addressed to the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Finance in the House of Representatives.

In the letter, also signed by the VAN Kansspelen Brancheorganisatie trade body for games of chance operators, the Dutch Lottery and Holland Casino Group, VNLOK argues that tax hikes have had the opposite to the desired effect.

Based on monitoring of its members tax returns, the VNLOK estimates that over the Dutch 2025 tax intake from the gambling industry will be €43.5m (£37.6m) less than in 2024 – equating to a drop of 13% from €322m to €288m.

Tax follows revenue

A new tax framework for Dutch gambling was approved in late 2024, two years after the market was re-regulated under the KOA Act in October 2021. In January 2025 the tax rate on gross gambling revenue (GGR) rose from 30.5% to 34.2% and in January 2025 it rose again to 37.8%.

Concerns that the Netherlands’ increasingly burdensome tax regime would be counterproductive are nothing new. The impact on taxes would have on operator profit margins was self-evident from the start, as is the case with any tax increases.

However, the industry routinely argued that tax increases would force operators to take on mitigation measures that would drive players away. This would in turn see industry revenue, and as a result, tax returns, decline also.

In August last year, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling authority, openly stated that the tax rise to 34.2% had not had the desired effect. The regulator added that operators were adopting safeguarding measures that were having a negative impact.

VNLOK assessments also don’t take into account the January 2026 tax increase, suggesting that the situation could get worse this year. The group’s letter states that ‘tax revenues are expected to come under further pressure” as a result of taxes and tightening regulatory restrictions.

“Research agency Atlas Research also predicts a restructuring of the physical casino market,” VNLOK’s letter read. Again, this is something the KSA noted last August, having observed a 9% reduction in physical venues in Q1 2025.

“This development is already visible: dozens of physical casinos have been forced to close their doors. In several cases, this has led to business closures,” the letter continues. 

Will anyone listen?

VNLOK, along with its co-signatures, has made three requests to the Standing Committee. The first of these relates to a government commitment to monitor the effects of tax increases including the impact on contributions and illegal offerings.

Eugène Heijnen, the Netherlands’ State Secretary for Taxation, has promised to carry out this monitoring. VNLOK has called on the Committee to ensure this review takes place no later than the second quarter of the year.

Its second request is that the results of this review are factored in during the political decision-making process in August. Its third and final request is that the relationship between tax, illegal gambling, player protection, and tax contributions be considered in future decisionmaking.

The impact Dutch tax increases have had on the illegal market has been widely discussed. According to VNLOK, illegal online betting volume exceeded legal betting volume by €17m – €617m against €600m to be exact.

On top of this, the trade body also estimates that Dutch sports has lost out due to the tax increases to the tune of between €12.5m–€15m. The ban on sports sponsorships back in 2024 may have also contributed to sports losing revenue, though this has not been highlighted in VNLOK’s latest letter.

Last year, it seemed that the Netherlands gambling industry’s protests were falling on deaf ears. However, following the October election – the government having collapsed in June – the political situation in the Netherlands has stabilised, and the industry seems to be finding it easier to make its case, to an extent.

This is not to say that the arguments around taxation and the black market are being heard everywhere, however. In the UK, for example, the Netherlands was routinely used as an example of how increasing taxes can have a negative impact, but this was shut down by advocates of reform as a case of industry scaremongering.

Elsewhere, academics are also taking aim at the industry’s reliance on the black market as an argument against over-regulation, such as in the Nordics. While the Netherlands has often been cited as one of the worst case scenarios of gambling taxation and intense regulation, it is now one of many across Europe.